SINGAPORE: A cashier at a Jurong minimart has been sentenced to 17 months’ jail after stealing nearly S$57,000 from her employer to fund online gambling.
The theft came to light after the manager of the minimart, located at Block 651 Jurong West Street 61, noticed a consistent drop in daily sales beginning in April 2024.
Initially attributing the decline to a general business slowdown, the manager later observed a pattern—sales consistently fell by around S$600 to S$700 on days when 37-year-old Kon Chin Sia was on duty.
The manager then reviewed CCTV footage from 30 September to 27 October 2024.
The recordings revealed that Kon had been pocketing cash from customers and placing it into a drawer instead of the cash register.
She would later transfer the money into her bank account.
When confronted, Kon admitted to embezzling about S$500 to S$600 per shift.
According to Shin Min Daily News, she had worked at the minimart for over seven years and was previously regarded as a hardworking staff member.
Given her long service, the manager initially gave her a chance to repay the stolen funds, but after she failed to do so, the police were notified.
Kon was subsequently dismissed.
After her departure, several regular customers approached the minimart to enquire about her whereabouts, with some claiming she had borrowed over S$100 from them.
In court, Kon faced two charges of criminal breach of trust and pleaded guilty to one on 14 July, with the second taken into consideration.
Bank records showed she had stolen a total of S$56,797, most of which was spent on online gambling.
During mitigation, her lawyer pointed out that Kon had no prior criminal record.
Additionally, her family was heavily in debt at the time and had an unwell family member.
The defence also noted that Kon, a Malaysian national, would be deported after serving her sentence, which they cited as a form of additional punishment.
They therefore pleaded for leniency in sentencing.
However, the prosecution argued that Kon had committed the offence repeatedly over multiple shifts, undermining the claim that she was a first-time offender.
They sought a sentence of 18 to 20 months’ imprisonment, emphasising that most of the stolen money had been gambled away.
The judge ultimately sentenced Kon to 17 months in jail.
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